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Eleanor M. Davis, educator

Eleanor Matlack Davis, 108, formerly of Mt. Airy and Wyndmoor, a retired teacher and school administrator, died Dec. 1 at Mather House at the Hill at Whitemarsh, Lafayette Hill.

Mrs. Davis had been director of the lower school at what was then Springside School for 13 years until her retirement in 1968. Earlier she had been a first-grade teacher at Springside and had taught English at West Philadelphia High School.

She had also served as an editor at the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education.

Mrs. Davis had an active retirement, volunteering in the Philadelphia public schools, at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and at All Saints Hospital, a rehabilitation facility in Wyndmoor.

Following her move to Springfield Retirement Residence, she was active on the Residents Council, organized and maintained the library until she was 100, and spent countless hours tending and maintaining the grounds. In 2008, at the age of 104, her health required a move to Mather House.

A native of Mt. Airy and a graduate of Germantown High School, she was a 1926 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Goucher College where she majored in English and served as senior class president.

Mrs. Davis and her husband of 53 years, the late W. Leonard Davis, raised their children in Mt. Airy and moved to Wyndmoor in 1960.

She is survived by a son, Charles S. Davis III, of Devon,; five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. In addition to her husband, a daughter, Sarah Davis West, and a great-grandchild, Nicholas Lorello, preceded her in death.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 22, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. in Chestnut Hill. – WF

7 p.m. Mt. Airy Arts Performing Center, 230 East Gowen Ave. Behind Grace Epiphany Church All classes are Free for the trial period, but a donation $3 to $5 is suggested per session for the teacher.[...]